Blackfly VTOL ultralight

It has a long way to go to be a useful mode of transportation. 25 mile range keeps it in the “expensive toy”’category.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
And that "Roly Poly" landing gear ...
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The roly poly gear is a stroke of genius IMHO. No wheels or wheel bearings to service and it's amphibious.

The 25 mile range is imposed by the weight limitation of ultralights in the U.S.; greater range would mean heavier batteries.
 
Brad Smith said:
It has a long way to go to be a useful mode of transportation. 25 mile range keeps it in the “expensive toy”’category.
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I disagree. 10-15 miles would do a lot for some cities. Dallas Executive to Love Field is about 13 miles, but often a 30+ minute drive - worse in bad traffic.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Dal...17ae5c202a!2m2!1d-96.8497464!2d32.8444028!3e0

If the Blackfly can do about 62 mph, one could be at Love in about 5 minutes and you'd theoretically have about half of your battery life left, so it wouldn't take as much time to recharge to full capacity.
 
It is a great concept that needs to be flushed out. Get it into LSA category and add a ground deplorable charging station and it’s game on.
 
Can it be called a “flying car” if it doesn’t have the capability to drive on roads as well?

I’d much rather spend “expensive SUV” type money on this than $389K on an Icon A5. This might even have promise as a rural work commuter.
 
Flying cash disposer.

And the flying part is probably being generous.
 
Let see 25 mile range, 62 mph gives what, maybe 25 minutes?

How does vfr fuel minimums come into play?
 
FORANE said:
Let see 25 mile range, 62 mph gives what, maybe 25 minutes?

How does vfr fuel minimums come into play?
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This is the future. It's 'lectric, so fuel minimums don't matter. ;)
 
So let's say that the FAA raises the LSA max weight to 750 kg. (1650 lbs.) Using half of that for battery will perhaps give you a sixty mile range (I'm giving the batteries quite a bit of slack here!) So now you can fly it to and from work. Yay. But will your boss let you park it in his lot? What if 50 or 100 people are converging on that lot? You'd have a mini-ATL at push time. (My office is at a large aviation engine firm; there could be quite a few early adopters in that crowd!) And I'm guessing that it sounds like the little drone I have in my office times a gazillion. OK for airports, perhaps not so great if the neighbor leaves for work at 5:00 AM.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
So let's say that the FAA raises the LSA max weight to 750 kg. (1650 lbs.) Using half of that for battery will perhaps give you a sixty mile range (I'm giving the batteries quite a bit of slack here!) So now you can fly it to and from work. Yay. But will your boss let you park it in his lot? What if 50 or 100 people are converging on that lot? You'd have a mini-ATL at push time. (My office is at a large aviation engine firm; there could be quite a few early adopters in that crowd!) And I'm guessing that it sounds like the little drone I have in my office times a gazillion. OK for airports, perhaps not so great if the neighbor leaves for work at 5:00 AM.
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Actually, a grass lawn would be a better landing area than a hard surface parking lot. The eight electric motors and propellers have a low noise signature (72 dBA at 150 feet) according to the company; I doubt it would wake up the neighbors. Building it to either current or proposed LSA gross weights would defeat the company's goal of taking advantage of Part 103, namely operating it without a pilot certificate.
 
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Stan Cooper said:
Actually, a grass lawn would be a better landing area than a hard surface parking lot. The eight electric motors and propellers have a low noise signature (72 dBA at 150 feet) according to the company; I doubt it would wake up the neighbors. Building it to either current or proposed LSA gross weights would defeat the company's goal of taking advantage of Part 103, namely operating it without a pilot certificate.
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For sure the boss won't let you land on the lawn! And there's approximately zero chance of this thing having a happy noise signature (which has two components, loudness and frequency spectrum.)
 
I take the manufacturer’s claim of low noise levels with a grain of salt. So far, the outrageous claims from all these “inventors” have proved to be just that...claims.
I’m not saying it won’t happen some day, but it’ll probably cost a lot more than a high-end SUV, more like buying a C172. And you will have to be licensed to make it a viable form of transportation. We’re talking many years into the future.
BTW, what ever happened to the Moller Skycar?
 
To be honest, I hope it doesn’t catch on. At least for the masses that is. I really don’t want to be sitting on my back porch during a nice evening and have it interrupted by Black Flys zipping around a couple hundred feet up.
 
Velocity173 said:
To be honest, I hope it doesn’t catch on. At least for the masses that is. I really don’t want to be sitting on my back porch during a nice evening and have it interrupted by Black Flys zipping around a couple hundred feet up.
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Not to mention Bubba deciding to visit the nearest airport.

Cheers
 
Heck, I just want it to get from my San Francisco back yard to my T-hangar at KOAK without dealing with the Bay Bridge and I-880 traffic. Staying clear of SFO Bravo it's 16 air miles, but frequently takes an hour to drive. There's a grass field next to my hangar.
 
robert lomax said:
ive seen the vids of this, flying,,,thing,,can it engine out ,, glide to a safe landing???
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According to the manufacturer it is fault-tolerant with redundant motors, elevons, and batteries, and three fail-safe flight systems. It has an isolated distributed battery system, and has backup landing systems including low-power glide mode and optional ballistic parachute system.

They seem to have done their homework, and have a number of tech savvy investors with deep pockets.
 
Stan Cooper said:
According to the manufacturer it is fault-tolerant with redundant motors, elevons, and batteries, and three fail-safe flight systems. It has an isolated distributed battery system, and has backup landing systems including low-power glide mode and optional ballistic parachute system.

They seem to have done their homework, and have a number of tech savvy investors with deep pockets.
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All of which fail if the single power source fails due to a short anywhere in the system. Without power this is just another brick in the sky.
 
Salty said:
All of which fail if the single power source fails due to a short anywhere in the system. Without power this is just another brick in the sky.
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I'm not privy to details of the "isolated distributed battery system" used in the Blackfly, but the term "distributed" clearly infers there is more than a single power source, and "isolated" infers isolating any part of the system that fails (from a short circuit or other failure).
 
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Stan Cooper said:
I'm not privy to details of the "isolated distributed battery system" used in the Blackfly, but the term "distributed" clearly infers there is more than a single power source, and "isolated" infers isolating any part of the system that fails (from a short circuit or other failure).
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You are correct.
 
I can't see this being useful and still a 14 CFR part 103 flyer (though it gets to carry about 50 extra lbs. 'cuz it's a "float plane"). Heck, how can it have a 24 mph stall speed? I think that it must be classified as "powered lift".
 
The January 2019 issue of EAA Sport Aviation has a good eight page article on the Blackfly beginning on page 54. The author is, uh, very enthusiastic.
 
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The Blackfly would be a great toy in the rural area that I live. I could cruise the countryside at a couple hundred feet and just enjoy the view. I would not use it as a traveling machine but a low-cost, low maintenance machine intended purely for fun flying. I believe some sort of undercarriage for just pulling up to a charger would be necessary as trying to taxi this thing on a hard surface would scrape the hull.
As technology increases it might find itself in the LSA category with a range of a couple hundred miles and prove even more capable. The Blackfly will be an interesting foundation to build upon if they can generate enough sales to finance future development.
 
Saw the Blackfly at OSH last year. My two boys (10 & 8 then) were enamored by it. We took time to go down to the ultralight area to see the flight demo. You could tell it was still in 'prototype' mode - they were handling it with white gloves. I think they cut the main demo at show center short for some reason. It will be interesting to see how it pans out.
 
CJones said:
Saw the Blackfly at OSH last year. My two boys (10 & 8 then) were enamored by it. We took time to go down to the ultralight area to see the flight demo. You could tell it was still in 'prototype' mode - they were handling it with white gloves. I think they cut the main demo at show center short for some reason. It will be interesting to see how it pans out.
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It flew in the show two years ago. Thing looks like a death trap to me. I’d fly most of them for 10 minutes for fun, even though I don’t think they are safe. but that one I would not be in it when it was on.
 
Salty said:
It flew in the show two years ago. Thing looks like a death trap to me. I’d fly most of them for 10 minutes for fun, even though I don’t think they are safe. but that one I would not be in it when it was on.
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Interesting. I thought 2022 was the first year it had been there.
 
Two years ago was 2022 in air venture reckoning.
 
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